January renewals roundup

Disney gave new-season greenlights to three shows, including Star Wars: The Clone Wars, while Viacom International Studios and Treehouse ordered new eps.

Disney kept busy this month giving a greenlight to new seasons for three of its shows, and growing its animated catalogue with more episodes from big brands. More time-travel and dress up also got ordered as broadcasters banked on popular series.

International broadcasters Disney Junior and France 5 donned more PJ Masks, renewing eOne’s preschool series for a fifth season. eOne began production on the new 52 x 11-minute season, set for delivery in 2021. Produced by London-based eOne and French prodco Frog Box, in collaboration with international Disney Junior and France 5, the show follows a trio of young superheroes who fight against villains. Debuted on Disney Junior US in 2015, the show’s global retail sales now total more than US$1.1 billion, with a CP program in 85 markets, including Asia, according to eOne. Season four is set to launch globally on Disney Junior this spring and on France Télévisions kids platform Okoo in the fall. Okoo will also launch a 44-minute special episode following new adventures of the characters in the fall.

On the House of Mouse’s streaming side, Disney+ is building out its service with a pair of renewals. Upping its non-fiction programming, the streamer is giving National Geographic’s family friendly live-action docu-series The World According to Jeff Goldbluma 10 episode second season. On top of this, it’s growing its Star Wars-themed offerings and ordered a seventh season of animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars(pictured).

Produced by London-based Nutopia, The World According to Jeff Goldblum was one of Disney+’s few original and exclusive series that was available at launch. The show tracks actor Jeff Goldblum as he travels across the US learning about everyday items such as ice-cream, sneakers, and RVs.

And, after a six year gap, the streamer has ordered a new 12 episode batch of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, set to air February 21. Orbiting around the travels of Jedi knights who adventure across the galaxy, the show’s sixth season aired on Netflix in 2014. The series was created by George Lucas, with Dave Filoni (The Mandalorian) as exec producer and supervising director. The animated show is quite popular among Star Wars fans, and the season seven trailer, which was released just last week, has already racked up close to five million views.

Viacom International Studios has greenlit Nickelodeon LatAm and The Mediapro Studio’s musical series Club 57, for a second season. The live-action co-pro will begin filming in Q2 of this year, but no episode details or delivery date have been announced yet. The series is about two siblings from the present, who accidentally travel back in time to 1957. The first season was viewed by more than 19 million people in the region, and was the number one show during its timeslot with girls seven to 14 in Argentina and Mexico, and with girls four to 11 in Argentina, according to Viacom International Studios.

Corus-owned kidsnet Treehouse has ordered a third season of Nelvana and Balloon House Productions live-action and puppet preschool series Miss Persona, hitting the Canadian network fall 2020. Aimed at kids two to five, the 60 x seven-minute edutainment show revolves around the character Miss Persona who uses dress up and imagination to solve problems. The show has been nominated for two Daytime Emmy Awards, including outstanding preschool series.